Of all the Peter Cushing Frankenstein films, this one is the most unusual. Instead of the usual grave robbing and sewing bits and pieces together to make a monster, this one chooses an entirely different path. Instead of experimenting on the dead, this film finds the doctor working on proving that the soul remains in the body after death. He establishes this by cryogenically suspending himself and having his assistants revive him. However, when his youngest assistant is framed for murder, the doctor experiments on whether he can preserve the man's soul after he is guillotined. Luckily, at about the same time, the condemned man's girlfriend drowns herself--thus providing a receptacle for the man's soul. So, in an odd twist, a dead man's soul is now embedded in a woman that Frankenstein revived from the dead.
Now at first, this dead lady has no idea who she is. To make it even more confusing, originally she'd been disfigured but when she was being revived the doctor also made her look beautiful--and very different. Now here is where the plot gets really interesting. The lady does recover her memories of the young executed man but she tells no one. That's because she plans to track down the three real murderers and exact her revenge.
This is a great idea and so far, this is one of the best movies in the series. However, now come the silly parts. First, oddly, the lady can both talk in her voice AND the voice of the dead man. Now she doesn't have his vocal chords but still it manages to sound exactly like him. Right. Second, she apparently is carrying around the head of the executed man. Despite being old and supposedly decayed, the guy's head looked pretty good--like he'd only been dead a day or so--not several weeks. If the film had just omitted these two silly bits, the film would have easily earned an 8 or 9. As it is, however, it seemed pretty silly starting at about 2/3 of the way through the film. Now the revenge angle was great--they just should have carried it off a bit better.
Overall, a decent film and one that even non-horror films probably will enjoy thanks to good acting and a few changes that make the film seem like not just another Frankenstein film.
Now at first, this dead lady has no idea who she is. To make it even more confusing, originally she'd been disfigured but when she was being revived the doctor also made her look beautiful--and very different. Now here is where the plot gets really interesting. The lady does recover her memories of the young executed man but she tells no one. That's because she plans to track down the three real murderers and exact her revenge.
This is a great idea and so far, this is one of the best movies in the series. However, now come the silly parts. First, oddly, the lady can both talk in her voice AND the voice of the dead man. Now she doesn't have his vocal chords but still it manages to sound exactly like him. Right. Second, she apparently is carrying around the head of the executed man. Despite being old and supposedly decayed, the guy's head looked pretty good--like he'd only been dead a day or so--not several weeks. If the film had just omitted these two silly bits, the film would have easily earned an 8 or 9. As it is, however, it seemed pretty silly starting at about 2/3 of the way through the film. Now the revenge angle was great--they just should have carried it off a bit better.
Overall, a decent film and one that even non-horror films probably will enjoy thanks to good acting and a few changes that make the film seem like not just another Frankenstein film.